Former World No. 21 Steve Johnson revealed he wanted to call it a day after suffering an ashamed loss against Jannik Sinner. Five years ago, Sinner was ranked World No. 263 in the ATP Rankings but stunned Johnson, who was in top 60 at that time, in the ATP 1000 Masters in Rome.
The Italian lost the opening set against Johnson by 1-6 but bounced back to take the next two sets and the match by 1-6, 6-1, 7-5.
“I don’t know if you guys ever felt this, you play like a local wildcard or a hometown kid and there’s different feelings you have,” Johson said while in conversation with fellow former pros John Isner, Sam Querrey and Jack Sock.
“So I walk out there and the kid’s like 6’3, 112 pounds, like super skinny and you’re just like, ‘Oh, this could go bad for me. You gotta win, right?’ Because this is a bad look on centre court.”
After winning the opening set against Sinner, Johnson admitted he played poor tennis to end on the wrong side of the result.
He continued: “And then the third set rolls around.
“I’m just like, ‘Please win, you’ve got to win this, just find a way.’ I either serve for the match or had match points and then lost 7-5.”
Johnson felt Sinner had no future and he wanted to quit tennis after his loss.
“I called my agent, and my coach wasn’t even there at the time, he was flying in the next day, but I’m like, ‘I just lost to – this kid sucks, he’s terrible. I’m literally quitting tennis for the rest of your life.’”
Sinner had a sensational run in 2024, winning the Australian Open and the US Open and also the Nitto ATP Finals to end as the World No.1.
